Vital Design Blog » Vital Design

Vital Welcomes New Designers Jesse Rand and Shane Rutherford

Brian DeKoning — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:28:50 +0000

With the arrival of the new year, times are changing and so are the faces here at Vital Design. We are very happy to welcome our newest team members, graphic designers Jesse Rand and Shane Rutherford.

Jesse and Shane will dive into many exciting projects Vital Design has slated for 2011. Jesse will work both in graphic design and Web development while Shane will focus primarily on graphic design and branding.

Jesse’s previous experience includes time in the Boston mobile start-up industry as an in-house graphic designer where he produced branding, print and Web collateral, and mobile UI development. He even produced and directed his own segment for Bryant Gumble’s “The Economic Report.” He returned to NH to work for a small marketing company, where he was responsible for the design and development of numerous small medical practice websites from around the country. Jesse holds a BFA from Plymouth State University, with a concentration in graphic design.

“I’ve always admired Vital’s online marketing presence and overall aesthetic from afar,” Jesse said. “To say I’m excited to finally be a part of this team would be a gross understatement.”

A Portsmouth native, Shane has worked extensively as a designer, photographer and marketer in the action sports industry in San Diego, CA where he worked for national and international apparel brands. He has also worked as a graphic designer at Infinite Imaging, Ideal Health and previously at Vital Design in 2004. Shane was part of the team that designed some of the most popular brands in Vital’s portfolio.

How to Mask Groups in Photoshop and Tips on Reducing Your Production Time

Bill Lord — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:51:42 +0000

We have received a great response from some past “How to” blog tutorials like How to Rotate Photoshop Brushes and How To Create a Fanpage on Facebook With Custom HTML so here is another quick Photoshop tutorial on a technique that saves me tons of time.

As a Web developer here at Vital, production work is a big part of my job, so any way I can speed up my part of the process is going to help the bottom line. Masking images is a huge time saver itself, but when I learned you could mask a group of layers rather than taking the time to mask each layer individually, again my mind was blown by how such a simple thing could save me so much time!

I have found that masking a group of layers is especially handy when you are prepping images for photo galleries. Generally for galleries you need lots of images that are the same size, with the same effects applied. Whether you are just looking to make all the images a consistent size or your adding rounded corners etc., a layer mask is a great way to give you a consistent, clean edge. In this example I had to crop photos for the Portfolio Luxury Kitchens photo galleries.

There were a total of 35 images for the main galleries that had the same dimensions, and a thumbnail for each. Cropping each image and thumbnail, or masking them individually would have taken hours. The solution was to put all the photos layers in a group and mask the group. This way the images can be moved around individually inside the mask for the prefect layout and the dimensions will stay exactly the same when copied out.

Here is how it’s done.

Open the PSD of your design, and start by snapping guides to the size you need.

Vital Tip - Zooming in and holding shift while dragging guides, will snap the guides to exact pixels.

Next, add your photos to individual layers and make a group of those layers. They can be moved around later for composition. Now, making sure you are on the layer of the group, use the marquee tool to select the area you want to have masked. Click the “Add vector mask” icon in the footer of the layers pallet.

Now you will see that you have masked the whole group of layers. If needed, you can select the individual layers to position them correctly.

Keyboard Shortcuts to Quickly Copy and Paste Your Images

Use the marquee tool to select the area you have masked.

You can easily copy each layer (shift, command, C).

Vital Tip - Using “copy merged” opens your new window at the correct size.

Open a new window (command, N).

Paste the image (command, V).

and save it for web (shift, option, command, S).

As you go back to your original PSD, leave the marquee in place, turn off the next layer and repeat these steps.

This is really handy for rounded corners and custom shapes too. You can simply drag the mask from any shape to the layer or group of layers you want masked. And the best part is that if you hate it you can just change or remove the mask and you original image is intact!

Have fun and feel free to post questions in the comments below.

Modern Design’s Influence on one of the World’s Oldest Team Sports

admin — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:48:39 +0000

Crisp fall nights loom on the horizon as we wind down the dog days of August. This time of year means football, for many. Of course, geography plays a large part in determining which brand of football. Being part of the growing contingent of football fans in the states that follows the European version – the one played with feet – I’d like to examine the influence of modern design on the rebranding of football clubs in Europe. You can think of them as soccer clubs if you’d like, I can assure you no one in this group will mock you publicly.

ARSENAL FC

We start with the rebrand of the club I have a firsthand knowledge and love for: Arsenal FC. I remember when the new crest debuted. You might have thought someone dropped a bomb on the stadium and sold all the players, according to some in the blogosphere who saw this as a clear abomination and betrayal of the club’s history and heritage. Given time, however, people get over their disdain for change and embrace a new look. Minimizing design isn’t always the answer, but it has been a successful trend in modern updates of brands from corporate to sport, and here I feel it works quite well. The previous crest was far too ornate, and busy. The update displays a modern font and a simplified eastern facing cannon that signifies a commitment to progressively moving forward. All told, a resounding success as far as this designer is concerned. Of course I teeter on the brink of bias, but I digress. A-

BOLTON WANDERERS FC

Moving on To Bolton, a truly detestable side with a moderately detestable crest. This upgrade is subtle and preserves their previous typography adding little whispy streamers instead of the stately ribbon of the previous effort. This upgrade isn’t particularly bad as it’s understated enough, I’m simply not a fan of the logo to begin with. And anything that evokes the memory of Will Ferrell’s floor dance performance in “Old School” can’t be a good representation for any club looking to establish their identity. D+

BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Let’s jump countries on our European tour over to Germany to check on Borussia’s update to their classic BVB crest. Punching up the yellow really leaves an impression. The typography has been updated nicely to make the crest symmetrical and sophisticated. It’s simple but memorable. A

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR FC

Being an Arsenal supporter, Tottenham falls under the category of nemesis. The clubs are separated in North London by four miles and a wealth of good fortune. That said, as much as it pains me to say so, the update of the club’s crest is a fantastic improvement. The simplification of the “cockerel,” (their birds not mine) came off perfectly. They dumped the lions and Latin and inserted a retro football in the place of the club’s initials. I think the color, lines, and look of this update to the crest are nearly flawless leaving you with a simple and sophisticated improvement. For that they receive high marks. A+

PARIS ST. GERMAIN FC

Onto France where we take a look at the updates in Paris. PSG did a nice job cleaning up what was otherwise a little murky. The black strokes on the old logo were harsh, and the typography appears messy jetting off the icon as it does. The upgrade addresses these issues nicely, even if the baby crib under the Eiffel Tower is a little curious. B-

AJAX FC

The Dutch national team has one of the coolest brands of all time in the lion’s head. I liked it so much I placed it on the Vital team jerseys for our Tuesday night league. This fondness does not carry across the board in Holland as Amsterdam’s Ajax (eye-axe to those of you confusing it with a cleaning product) upgrade has left me a little conflicted. On the one hand I love the type update, as well as the red border, but I can’t help thinking the update to the Greek Warrior Ajax’s face took simplicity to the precipice and beyond. If we were to agree that the original version was far too detailed to reproduce across multiple forms of media would we then agree that using a fat magic marker to do a quick trace would not be the answer to simplifying the image? I think so. In writing this I’ve learned that supporters have been campaigning to ditch the new crest since its inception in the ’90s due to it being too cold and business like. A campaign that has fallen on deaf ears. Proof positive that you can oversimplify your brand and agitate your target audience. C-

Moving away from the per club breakdown of club crests, I’d like to now move swiftly onto my “FILE UNDER” segment where we take some successful, some not so successful, some legendary and some downright bizarre examples of rebranding from around European football leagues and file them under their appropriate categories.

FILE UNDER “PROGRESS”:

FILE UNDER “STROBE-TASTIC”:

FILE UNDER “MUTANT RABBIES CAT”:

FILE UNDER “FINE WINE AND BIOHAZARD”:

FILE UNDER “LAW SUIT”:

FILE UNDER “INEXPLICABLE”:

FILE UNDER “УРОДСКО!”:

FILE UNDER “Vive Le Résistance!”:

FILE UNDER “YOU AIN’T GO-‘N’ NOWHERE”:

FILE UNDER “LEGENDARY”:

Vital launches http://www.summitengineeringinc.com

Brian DeKoning — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:23:47 +0000

Vital Design launched a new site recently for Portsmouth engineering firm Summit Engineering, http://www.summitengineeringinc.com.

“We’ve had a lot of positive feedback on the site already,” said Summit Engineering Principal Tony Coviello. “Working with Vital Design has given us a much more professional image online and will help us communicate more effectively with our clients.”

The new site features a gallery of Summit’s projects as well as a clean, modern design that embraces natural New Hampshire scenes. Located in Portsmouth, NH, Summit Engineering provides structural design, construction administration and inspection services on a variety of project types throughout New England and beyond.

Searching Twitter Like Google.

Brian DeKoning — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:04:32 +0000

A lot of people are on twitter because it’s exploding in popularity but the same folks who can understand the potential just because of growth and marketing applications are still saying things like, “I don’t really get the whole tweeting thing.” In addition to the exponential growth, Twitter has become a ridiculously awesome resource for anyone - especially marketers and for businesses – anyone who wants to know what people are saying right now. This post from Mashable explains the staggering power Twitter gives you in terms of knowing what people are thinking and what they are thinking about – or at least tweeting about. Check out the other twitter tools at the bottom also.

One thing people seem to be overlooking is the search.twitter.com site that Adam Ostrow from Mashable mentions in his post. You can find this at the bottom of your twitter page as a smaller link.

Inspiration comes from staring at the walls

admin — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 18:09:29 +0000

Subversive momento mori damask print

We find inspiration from all over here at Vital Design. We recently stumbled upon the website of Studio Printworks a company based in Hoboken, NJ that designs and produces exclusive wallpapers and fabrics. In their own words Studio Printworks “was founded with the philosophy that sophisticated, hand-printed wallpaper adds style and richness to any home, be it city maisonette or rustic country cottage. It is with this ideal in mind that we offer high-style designs from diverse moments, places, and hands.

In the spirit of the great 20th Century design masters, and with the talents of fine, contemporary artists we create wallpaper, not as quiet backdrop, but as stimulant for the eye and the soul.”

We’re loving their classic patterns with hints of subversive imagery. Taking a traditional damask pattern and adding a skull as in their wallpaper “Momento Mori” or cowboys and oil rigs in the paper “Yee-Haw“? We’re quite Inspired. Now if we could only convince them to start printing their patterns in Vital orange…

A fellow tweeter posted this link and we were impressed and inspired by many of the logos on this list. Being a marketing firm, we love logos over here at Vital! We’re always inspired by creative ways of communicating a brand’s identity.

Succulent Crab Legs

admin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:18:45 +0000

With a range of clients in a bunch of different industries, we often discover things we would not normally need to know. For example, we have a couple of clients in the Service Oriented Architecture space and clients in the software and IT support space so we learn about their technology so we can market it and write about it and design for their audience and that’s great. But SOA knowledge isn’t really something that you can take home and enjoy or whip out a cocktail party. But one of our clients is an international seafood distributor and we design packaging for them. So we were pretty excited when we saw this industry-specific nugget in our inbox. We can certainly take this recipe home and enjoy it and share at a cocktail party. Random, I know, but it’s part of our work and it’s almost lunch time. :)

Steamed King Crab Legs

1 cup dry white wine

1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges, divided

2 tablespoons chopped shallots

2-4 pounds Wild Caught King Crab Legs

1 (3.5 ounce) container garlic butter

In large stockpot, combine wine, four lemon wedges (squeeze over pot and then place in pot) and shallots. Cover and bring to a boil.

Add crab legs. Cover and steam until crab is heated through (about 10 minutes). Transfer crab legs to a serving platter. Cover to keep warm.

Discard lemon wedges and bring wine back to a boil; continue boiling until reduced by half. Reduce heat to low and whisk in butter, a couple scoops at a time, until melted. Remove from heat.

Serve crab with sauce for dipping and remaining lemon wedges.

Suggested Side Dish, Wine and Beer – Tossed Garden Salad, Chardonnay, White Zinfandel, Pilsner, Belgian Ale

Branding project

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:38:19 +0000

Today, we are wrapping up the logo comps which will establish a sub-branding look and feel for a company that provides marine customization for sport fishing boats, serious pleasure sailing and yachts. This project has really forced us to think about brand architecture, the importance of not diluting a strong, established brand, and communicating effectively through the sub-brands. Here’s a link to another recent branding project we worked on that required creating an identity for a suite of products, which is similar to what we’re doing today.

I’m feeling optimistic that we can really help this client move to a new level in how they present themselves (at which they’ve done a great job to date).

Vital Design’s Beautiful Balls

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 17:37:22 +0000

A Melissa Ambrose Lyford hand-painted ornament.

We arrived at work today to find sparkly silver bags topped with Vital orange bows on each of our desks. The Christmas elf was none other than graphic designer Melissa Ambrose Lyford who hand painted each of these Vital orange ornaments. I don’t know which is more impressive, the fact that she hand painted them or that she finished them almost a week before Christmas. Thanks, Melissa!

Vital Design brands and launches http://www.fotomedialabs.com

admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:28:14 +0000

Just launched FotoMedia’s new site, http://www.fotomedialabs.com. FotoMedia, a subsidiary of Scenera Research, is a high-tech company that produces technology in the photo and media sharing space.

You’ll find their work in many online media sharing applications. If you’ve ever shared pictures online, you may have already used their innovations and not known it! This site is fairly basic but uses the clean design we favor. Vital Design also created original branding for FotoMedia.